__________________
"Build me to the heavens, and Life never stops"
"Live as if the world were as it should be, to show it what it can be"
-Angel
"Prayers are fleeting and wars are forgotten, but what is built endures"
-Ambassador DeLenn, Babylon 5

The crown on this one is fantastic. Overall the building is a B- but if you take into account the era that it was built it, it gets bumped up to an A. I am very glad theyh did not do that awful reclad and destory everything that makes the building unique.

I saw another more realistic reclad proposal somewhere, but damned if I can find the article now- instead of trying to make this building look like a 3rd avenue background building, they wanted to give it new window glass (still black, not sure how reflective, or if they would keep the silver pinstripes), and reclad the crown and fins with brushed aluminum. As long as they kept it clean and didn't let it get grungy, that might actually look good!

As for the era it was built in, the early 1970's were a tough time, architecturally speaking. Too late for the height of the international style, but too soon for post-modern. Der Scutt wanted to do something other than a plain box, so he experimented with the protruding corners of the building, as well as the vertical fins and crown- At the time, International style dogma still persisted in the architectural world, and putting a (mostly) decorative stone crown atop a glass building was quite transgressive according to architectural purists.

__________________
"Build me to the heavens, and Life never stops"
"Live as if the world were as it should be, to show it what it can be"
-Angel
"Prayers are fleeting and wars are forgotten, but what is built endures"
-Ambassador DeLenn, Babylon 5

This building is a gem and one of my very favourites in the US. I know it's not a critic's darling the way some skyscrapers are, but for some reason it always caught my eye. It would look good even without them, but it's still the crown and fins that make this building great. The theater (and the views of Times Square from the inside) is spectacular too.

I like One Astor Plaza so much that for a few years during the 00s, an illustration of it it was my Windows XP wallpaper!

When I was in NYC over Halloween, it was off..most of the security staff didn't know anything, but one suspected that they were in the process of redoing it, or otherwise doing work up there that would interfere with it. But it may be back on again, I saw a picture taken very recently that apparently had the crown all lit up again.

__________________
"Build me to the heavens, and Life never stops"
"Live as if the world were as it should be, to show it what it can be"
-Angel
"Prayers are fleeting and wars are forgotten, but what is built endures"
-Ambassador DeLenn, Babylon 5

So I was watching The Avengers last night, and got a screen shot during the alien invasion part. Poor Astor takes a beating, even losing a chunk of a fin or two..Poor thing!

__________________
"Build me to the heavens, and Life never stops"
"Live as if the world were as it should be, to show it what it can be"
-Angel
"Prayers are fleeting and wars are forgotten, but what is built endures"
-Ambassador DeLenn, Babylon 5

Here's a little something I found- some interesting history of the site, and of the old Astor Hotel. The writer makes some strange claims about goings-on in the present building, as well as an error about the building's first major tenant- he thinks they built it, for their own use, which is not true. They just leased a chunk of space and paid for the naming rights. But aside from a few quibbles, it's an interesting history:

__________________
"Build me to the heavens, and Life never stops"
"Live as if the world were as it should be, to show it what it can be"
-Angel
"Prayers are fleeting and wars are forgotten, but what is built endures"
-Ambassador DeLenn, Babylon 5

Holy shit that looks amazing! When was this pic taken? And I'm hoping they leave it like that, not that I mind the blue, but that red is SWEET!

__________________
"Build me to the heavens, and Life never stops"
"Live as if the world were as it should be, to show it what it can be"
-Angel
"Prayers are fleeting and wars are forgotten, but what is built endures"
-Ambassador DeLenn, Babylon 5

It seems that on June 10, the building suffered a transformer fire, fortunately nothing serious. But still, ouch!

__________________
"Build me to the heavens, and Life never stops"
"Live as if the world were as it should be, to show it what it can be"
-Angel
"Prayers are fleeting and wars are forgotten, but what is built endures"
-Ambassador DeLenn, Babylon 5